Moon River Thai — Restaurant in Danville

Best place to eat in Danville, hands down, and some of the absolute best Thai food I have ever had. It's located in this very fascinating little extension of the old downtown, right next to the theater. I think it's actually considered "North Danville". Such a cool area (if a bit abandoned, like most of our neat, old downtowns in the south), and I always love to speculate about what used to fill the space occupied by Moon River, because the building is really intriguing, with its slanted glass window and partition near the back. Just watch the traffic if you have to cross the street at any point. People absolutely fly down that little road.

On our first visit, I ordered a large garden salad (instead of my usual Thai faves like rice or noodles), and the Tom Kha soup.

That salad let me know immediately that this place is on another level, because every single vegetable on it tasted like it was fresh off the farm, and it was so loaded down with them it might as well have been a Cobb. Snap peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots to name a few, and they even tossed a boiled egg in there too (and of course, that addictive homemade peanut dressing). Then I got to the Tom Kha... pretty sure I could feel my brain firing off dopamine hits from this soup. One of the best soups I've ever eaten. I usually get it with tofu, but my BF gets the shrimp, and despite being far, far away from the coast, these are some tasty shrimp. None of that hideous "aquarium" flavor I so often taste in restaurant shrimp these days, and even better, they're properly de-veined.

We now go back to eat here once a week, basically every time we are in Danville. We've tried the spicy noodles, pineapple and basil fried rice, chicken and rice soup, and the Massaman curry. That curry was incredible, and not at all too sweet, even though it was packed with sweet potatoes. The fried rice is always good, and again, if you order it with vegetables you're gonna get the good stuff. None of that "here's two pounds of broccoli and a whole, undercooked white onion - yum!". The chicken and rice soup is great too, simple but full of flavor, and if you aren't feeling well, I couldn't imagine anything better. The spicy noodles were fine, it's just hard to order something "fine" when their other menu items are "outta this world good".

I now just get the same thing each time: a large vat of Tom Kha soup, and a side of egg fried rice. And I can never finish it all. Oh, and the Thai tea, and Thai custard. Not even typically a fan of taro, but I cannot stop ordering that taro custard. For heaven's sake, even their hot sauce is incredible. I have waited years to see that little pot of vinegary sauce with the peppers in it again, and sure enough, Moon River has it. And it is so so good, ugh. The service is also top notch. I've had better service here than in places that are way higher priced (looking at you, "B Prime" in the Borgata). Our server is a one man band when he's in there working! Just singlehandedly running the show, and he never makes a mistake even though he's usually quite busy. I don't think he even needs to take our order now. He just knows what we like!

In all, you just cannot beat this food in Danville. We have tried several other places, and although the service is also good (Danville is just a very friendly place, thanks guys!), the food is just not quite up to par, especially with the prices being charged. The options at the new casino are especially appalling (either get musty, greasy, school cafeteria food, or spend hundreds to go full on fine dining). We can eat 5 star food at Moon River, complete with drinks and dessert, for around $70. And then have food leftover for the next day as well. Service is fast, friendly and accurate. The location is a bit odd, but I think it adds to the charm. The only thing I would suggest is some better lighting in that vast old parking lot, as it can get a little...

Having had Thai food before (South Commercial St, Salem, Oregon) I guess I was expecting the same Great and Delicious flavors, Understandablely, this is not Oregon, I understand that, But, I had been trying to find Thai food here in Virginia since I returned home in 2022, So my expectations were extremely high when finally someone suggested the Moon River Thai Bistro. I drove all the way from Martinsville to find this place, drove past it twice because my GPS kept sending me around in circles, So, I pulled over and called the Restaurant, a very friendly voice answered the phone (Jesse) who directed right to the restaurant. Once there I was greeted by that same voice as I walked in. I was seated, given some water(very cold) yay..I knew what I wanted to order, Drunken noodles with Shrimp, I forgot to say "Hold the pepper flakes" my fault...The salad they give you had a peanut sauce, Jesse kindly brought me one with Ranch, and He was kind enough to ask if I had a peanut allergy? No I replied, just didn't care for the sauce. I ordered the Iced Thai tea( interesting taste, not a fan, AGAIN, my fault) I ordered the Veggie rolls (Definitely not a fan of these either) Again, trying something new. Finally the Noodles arrived, And once again I forgot to omit the pepper flakes, I eventually got pass the burning and coughing from the heat of the flakes and I managed to eat it without disturbing the other patrons. Jesse was very patient with Me and did what He could to help Me enjoy the Meal. Thanks Jesse. I did leave a very good Tip, because I thought He had earned it. As for trying it again?? Probably not, But, if you're into spicy food and a relaxing atmosphere with low conversations and a hole in the wall kind of feel, By all means, This Bistro is for You. To each His...

My wife and I have wanted to checkout Moon River Thai for a few years now. We finally stopped in for lunch. From the outside it is very plain, but upon entering you see that what is on the outside doesn't always speak for what's inside. Our waiter was very pleasant and knowledgeable about the menu. We had the calamari as an appetizer, it came with lightly breaded fried veggies (which were very light and tasty). My wife ordered the pineapple fried rice with chicken and I ordered Mussamun curry with beef (Thai hot). We both had unsweetened tea as our drinks. After the appetizer we were brought rice soup with chicken which was very tasty. My wife liked the pineapple fried rice, she said it was very fragrant the flavor was to die for. It was fried perfectly, not dry or soggy. It had large chunks of perfectly seasoned chicken and pineapple. The curry was just amazing, the carrots, sweet potatoes, onions and peanuts complimented each other perfectly. The heat was sneaky, it wasn't overpowering, but gave me the sweat and flavor I desired. We truly enjoyed our lunch and look forward to many more visits...